1995 Alumnus of the Year
Alumnus of the Year P. Lloyd Soper, Memorial College '40
P. Lloyd Soper has three loves in his life. Each is vastly different and each has a special place in his heart. However, all three combined make Lloyd the perfect recipient for the 1995 Alumnus of the Year award, the Alumni Association’s highest honor.
At the age of eight, Lloyd embraced his first passion - music. Growing up in Grand Falls he began singing in choirs. His love of music, and particularly singing, allowed him to spend 68 years in various choirs throughout Newfoundland. No matter where he lived he found a way to become involved in music. As a student at Memorial College in 1938 he was a member of the Glee Club and at Dalhousie Law School he was fond of performing in stage productions of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Lloyd’s love of music has been nurtured throughout the years through personal performances and involvement in the community. As an organizer of musical events he’s had the opportunity to share his love with others. His commitment to the Music Festival in Corner Brook, where he has lived for the past 30 years, is one example. "It wasn’t just for himself," says Denis Robert, colleague and friend. "It was to better the community, to better those who participated, to raise participation, and to raise the level of exposure to culture." Lloyd’s goal to educate young people about music and expose them to something different has been consistently achieved over the years. The numbers of young people from Corner Brook who have gone on and done well with music are legendary. Lloyd is the one who set the standards.
Lloyd doesn’t mind setting the standards. In fact, he sets them for himself all the time, especially where his second love, the pursuit of knowledge, is concerned. When he graduated from high school others regarded him as one among a privileged group because he had his Grade 11. But that wasn’t enough for Lloyd. "I was looked upon as a bit of an oddball because I left no doubt that I not only intended to go to university, but seemed to take for granted that I would go." Once he walked through the doors of Memorial College in 1938 he was hooked. He tried his hand at just about everything. He represented the students as president of the Students’ Representatives Council, he was the editor of the Cap and Gown, the student year book, and he was a member of the Literary Society. He approached each task with vigor and dedication and went as far as to write in his editorial in the Cap and Gown that for Newfoundland and Memorial College to succeed it was the responsibility of each student to make a commitment to society - something he’s been doing ever since.
When Lloyd finished his studies at Memorial he went on to Boston College where he completed his undergraduate degree and then to Dalhousie Law School. He returned to Newfoundland to practise law and that’s when he met the main love of his life, his wife, Elizabeth, who also attended the college. The result has been four children who have all passed through the doors of Memorial University. Elizabeth and Lloyd recently celebrated 44 years together. In that time each has appreciated the talents and commitments of the other. Elizabeth is, in fact, Lloyd’s biggest fan and she says he’s very modest about his talents. The one thing he’s not modest about, however, is his accomplishment on the bench. In 1949 Lloyd was appointed a judge of the district court for the judicial district of Humber-St. George’s and in 1988 became a justice of the trial division of the Supreme Court of Canada, a position he retired from in 1994. There’s no doubt his commitments are long-lasting.